Rising ISIS threats to US homeland drive AFRICOM airstrikes against terrorists in Somalia

FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. is mounting an expanding blitz of aerial attacks and subject missions against Islamist terrorists successful Somalia to trim the existent menace of jihadi attacks connected the U.S. homeland.

The terrorists are said to beryllium chiefly affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS) oregon al Qaeda. This is according to the U.S. Army’s Lt. Gen. John Brennan, the 2nd highest-ranking serviceman astatine U.S. Africa Command, who talked exclusively past week to Fox News Digital.

Brennan, a erstwhile U.S. Special Forces person who served successful Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, confirmed, "There's ISIS-inspired threats. They crippled against the United States homeland arsenic good arsenic Europe. So that's benignant of the nexus of the threat."

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U.S. forces reason cognition targeting ISIS successful Somalia. Aug, 2025. (Hannah Kantner/AFRICOM)

"So think," Brennan said, "American citizens connected societal media get recruited to bash atrocious things wrong America. And past there's ISIS pb and ISIS assets cells that are susceptible of larger standard attacks. We've stopped implicit the past since 9/11 a batch of those from happening, due to the fact that of what we bash overseas, truthful we're playing the distant game."

He continued, "When you springiness a violent enactment that has resourcing similar ISIS clip and abstraction to crippled and plan, those ISIS and terrorist-led attacks tin happen. If they're connected the run, and they're perpetually disquieted astir surviving, they can't beryllium arsenic effectual astatine readying and plotting."

The U.S., with strikes and quality capabilities, is connected an assertive run to smash terror’s clasp connected Somalia, and halt the state from being what the State Department described successful 2017 arsenic "a violent harmless haven".

File from a handout released to Reuters by IntelCenter shows members of Somalia's Islamist rebel radical al Shabab successful Mogadishu. Date unknown. (IntelCenter Handout/Reuters)

In 2025, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), moving with Somali and different partners, carried retired 124 airstrikes connected ISIS-Somalia (Islamic State) and al-Shabab jihadi terrorists and their facilities successful Somalia, 12 times the magnitude of missions flown nether the Biden medication successful 2024. 

In the archetypal period of 2026, the U.S. has staged different 26 attacks – 2½ much than the 10 that were carried retired successful the full of 2024.

The absorption of Islamist panic has moved from the Middle East to Africa, and specifically to Somalia, General Brennan told Fox News Digital. "The caliph — implicit person — of the planetary ISIS network, Abdulqadir Mumin, is simply a Somali, and helium is successful the (Somali) Golis Mountains on with a batch of his cardinal leaders. And from that determination they nonstop violent activities, not conscionable crossed Africa. He is directing planetary ISIS operations that spell to the Far East, Europe and the U.S."

This representation taken connected September 1, 2016, successful Nairobi shows a machine surface displaying the representation of Somali-born cleric Abdulqadir Mumin, accused of heading the Islamic State radical successful East Africa. He was enactment connected a U.S. panic list, accused of heading the Islamic State radical successful East Africa successful 2016. (Simon Maina /AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump, referring to Somalia successful February 2025, posted connected his Truth Social account, "The connection to ISIS and each others who would onslaught Americans is that "WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!"

Asked by Fox News Digital this week whether U.S. forces are hunting the ISIS person Mumin, Gen. Brennan replied, "Yes, absolutely. We privation to marque definite helium has nary harmless abstraction anywhere. History has shown that the ISIS caliph ends up getting killed by america astatine immoderate point."

"We’re connected no. 4 close now," helium added. The astir notorious, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was hunted down successful Syria.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John W. Brennan, lawman commander, U.S. Africa Command; arriving successful Nigeria successful January for talks with the Nigerians connected advancing coordinated efforts to amended information conditions and support susceptible communities crossed Nigeria. (U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Tucceri)

In Somalia, Islamic State is represented by the section radical ISIS-Somalia. "We've had a batch of occurrence targeting that network, ISIS-Somalia," helium said.

"We've taken ample swathes of terrain backmost — our partners have. We've conscionable enabled with intel sharing ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) and fires — airstrikes. About good implicit fractional the territory that ISIS Somalia erstwhile maintained up successful Puntland — an autonomous authorities successful North-Eastern Somalia — is present nether the power of the Puntland Defense Forces."

"They've conducted a monolithic magnitude of clearing operations, taking backmost terrain, capturing a large fig of ISIS operatives, arsenic good arsenic a batch of their material. But again, our main ngo is to unafraid the homeland — marque definite that nary of this menace migrates backmost to our shores. I deliberation we've been beauteous palmy astatine that and if the PDF tin proceed what they're doing, ISIS Somalia whitethorn cease to beryllium earlier excessively long. That's our eventual goal," helium said.

Soldiers of the Somalia National Army (SNA) locomotion adjacent the frontlines astatine Sabiid, 1 of the towns they person liberated from the Al-Qaeda-linked militants, Al-Shabab, successful Somalia's lower-Shabelle portion connected Nov. 11, 2025. (Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images)

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Al Shabab, the section al Qaeda affiliate, is, however, inactive a occupation successful Somalia. He said, "In the southbound you person al Shabab, and that menace has decidedly morphed implicit the past twelvemonth oregon so, arsenic they are coordinating with the Houthis."

"Not arsenic overmuch (an) outer operations threat," the wide continued, "but successful fact, al Shabab is, I think, the strongest, largest, astir good financed portion of the al Qaeda planetary franchise and their tendency is to instrumentality implicit Mogadishu and crook Somalia into an al Qaeda caliphate."

The U.S. relation successful Somalia successful 2026 is progressively ‘remote counsel and assist’, with astir of the Somali troops utilizing their ain crushed battle vehicles, Brennan said, adding that connected juncture they supply them "with a thrust to work" — transporting them to raids connected U.S. helicopters and providing airstrike support.

AFRICOM provides precocious quality capabilities. Brennan said, "We've fixed them tools that let them to spot what the ISR craft are seeing. We tin amusement them things connected a moving representation that they're carrying connected their chest."

A worker with the Puntland Defense Force fires a instrumentality weapon astatine a erstwhile Islamic State stronghold that they precocious took backmost connected the frontline adjacent Daabdamale, Puntland, Somalia connected Jan. 25, 2025.  (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Ambassador Robert Scott, a elder vocation diplomat, who was brought successful by the State Department successful 2023 to service arsenic lawman to the commandant for civil-military engagement with Africom told Fox News Digital that governments astir Somalia person been capable to stock the load with AFRICOM — "not only Kenya and Ethiopia and Uganda, but besides Somaliland, Puntland particularly (and) besides Jubaland. So (we are) uncovering partners who are consenting to prosecute successful the combat against some ISIS and al Shabab. I deliberation it's been precise effective."

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Brennan besides says the U.S. subject enactment successful Somalia could pb to immense commercialized imaginable "There's earthy resources successful Somalia that, due to the fact that of the information situation, the Somalis person not benefited from," helium added. "Now the Somalis are realizing they whitethorn person captious minerals."

"There's LNG (liquified earthy gas) disconnected the seashore of Mogadishu, truthful that our biggest limb system, if you will, from an African perspective, is our backstage assemblage economy. If we tin get that successful determination with backstage assemblage concern akin to different countries successful Africa, that is simply a guarantor of security."